Israeli forces' deadly attacks on schools sheltering Palestinian civilians highlight the absence of safe places for Gaza's displaced people, Human Rights Watch said today. Since October 2023, Israeli authorities have carried out hundreds of strikes on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians, including unlawfully indiscriminate attacks using US munitions, that have killed hundreds of civilians and damaged or destroyed virtually all of Gaza's schools.
Recent Israeli strikes on schools-turned-shelters are part of Israeli forces' current military offensive that is demolishing much of Gaza's remaining civilian infrastructure, displacing again hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and worsening the already dire humanitarian situation. Governments, including the United States, which has provided weapons used in unlawful attacks, should impose an arms embargo on the Israeli government and take other urgent measures to enforce the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention).
"Israeli strikes on schools sheltering displaced families provide a window into the widespread carnage that Israeli forces have carried out in Gaza," said Gerry Simpson, associate crisis, conflict and arms director at Human Rights Watch. "Other governments should not tolerate this horrendous slaughter of Palestinian civilians merely seeking safety."
Human Rights Watch investigated Israeli attacks that struck the Khadija girls' school in Deir al-Balah on July 27, 2024, killing at least 15 people, and al-Zeitoun C school in al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on September 21, 2024, killing at least 34 people. Human Rights Watch found no evidence of a military target at either school.
These findings were based on a review of satellite imagery, photos, and videos of the attacks and their aftermath, social media material relating to men known to have died in the two strikes, and phone interviews with two people who witnessed the aftermath of the Khadija school strike and another present during the attack on al-Zeitoun C school.
The Israeli authorities have not publicly provided information about the attacks that Human Rights Watch documented, including details about the intended target or any precautions taken to minimize harm to civilians. They did not respond to a July 15 letter summarizing Human Rights Watch findings on these strikes and requesting specific information.
The absence of a military target in the Khadija and al-Zeitoun school strikes would make the attacks unlawfully indiscriminate in violation of international humanitarian law. Schools and other educational facilities are civilian objects and protected from attack. They lose that protection when used for military purposes or are occupied by military forces. The use of schools to house civilians does not alter their legal status.
Between July 1 and 10, 2025, Israeli forces struck at least 10 schools-turned-shelters, including some that had been damaged previously, reportedly killing 59 people and displacing again dozens of families, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported that about one million displaced people in Gaza had sheltered in schools amid the hostilities, and that as of July 18, at least 836 people sheltering in schools had been killed and at least 2,527 injured.
The most recent assessment by the Occupied Palestinian Territory Education Cluster found that 97 percent of school buildings in Gaza (547 out of 564) have sustained some level of damage, including 92 percent (518) that were "directly hit" and require "full reconstruction or major rehabilitation work to be functional again."
The Israeli attacks have denied civilians safe access to shelter and will contribute to the disruption of access to education for many years, as repair and reconstruction of schools can require significant resources and time, with a significant negative impact on children, parents, and teachers.
The Israeli publications +972Magazine and Local Call reported on July 24 that the Israeli military set up "a special strike cell to systematically identify schools, which are referred to as 'centers of gravity,' in order to bomb them, claiming that Hamas operatives hide among the hundreds of civilians." The report noted that "double tap" strikes-second attacks in the same location designed to hit survivors of the initial strike and first responders-have "become particularly common in recent months when Israel bombs schools in Gaza."
The Israeli military has claimed with respect to dozens of attacks on schools that Hamas or other Palestinian fighters or "command and control" centers were deployed at the school, without providing specific information. Human Rights Watch is aware of only seven instances in which the Israeli military published names and photographs of alleged members of Palestinian armed groups it said were present in a school at the time of the attack.
After a June 6, 2024, attack on al-Sardi school, the Israeli military identified 17 names of alleged fighters. However, a Human Rights Watch review of the names found that three were people who appeared to have been killed in earlier attacks.
The presence of Palestinian armed groups at any of the attacked schools would not necessarily make the attacks lawful. The laws of war prohibit attacks on military objectives if the anticipated harm to civilians and civilian objects is disproportionate compared to the expected military gain from the attack.
The laws of war also require, unless circumstances do not permit, warring parties to give "effective advance warning" of attacks that may affect the civilian population.
Armed groups deployed at schools-turned-shelters would place civilians at unnecessary risk. The laws of war obligate warring parties to take all feasible precautions against the effects of attacks and to avoid locating military targets near densely populated areas.
Serious violations of the laws of war by individuals with criminal intent-that is, deliberately or recklessly-are war crimes. Individuals may also be held criminally liable for assisting in, facilitating, aiding, or abetting a war crime. All state parties to an armed conflict are obligated to investigate alleged war crimes by members of their armed forces.
The Safe Schools Declaration, an international political commitment endorsed by 121 countries, aims to protect education during times of war by strengthening the prevention of, and response to, attacks on students, teachers, schools, and universities, including by avoiding the use of education facilities for military purposes. While Israel has not joined, Palestine endorsed the declaration in 2015.
Governments should suspend arms transfers to Israel, given the clear risk that the arms might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law. The US government's provision of arms to Israel, which have repeatedly been used in strikes on schools-turned-shelters and to carry out apparent war crimes, has made the United States complicit in their unlawful use.
On June 10, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel reported that Israeli authorities had "obliterated Gaza's education system" and that its attacks on educational, as well as religious and cultural sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, were "part of a widespread and relentless assault against the Palestinian people in which Israeli forces have committed war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination."
"After nearly two years of frequent Israeli attacks killing civilians in schools and other protected locations, governments providing military support to Israel can't say they weren't aware of the consequences of their actions," Simpson said. "Governments should suspend all arms transfers to Israel and take other actions to prevent further mass atrocities."
Israeli Attacks on Schools-Turned-Shelters
Human Rights Watch was unable to visit sites of the strikes on Khadija girls' school and al-Zeitoun C school because Israeli authorities have blocked virtually all entry into Gaza since October 2023. Israel has repeatedly denied Human Rights Watch requests to enter Gaza since 2008.
Khadija Girls' School, Deir al-Balah, July 27, 2024
On July 27, 2024, starting shortly before noon and until about 3 p.m., Israeli forces carried out at least three airstrikes, two with US munitions, on Khadija girls' school in Deir al-Balah, killing at least 15 people. The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, a body providing emergency and rescue services, reported that the school had sheltered about 4,000 displaced people for many months. The director of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, about a kilometer east of the school, said the school had a "field hospital" connected to his hospital. Reports of the attack started appearing on social media shortly before noon.
The school consists of five buildings next to a playground on about 5,000 square meters of land.
